The Season is Near!
With the season getting closer and closer one can no longer wait to see how last years expansion team will fair this year. They have lost a power forward in Jonathan Thiessen who led their team in penalty minutes last year. Joshua Thiessen who finished second in penalty minutes will have to step up the dirty play to fill in for Jonathan's absence. The team hopes to gain back what they lost in Jonathan by signing JJ Spence this off-season. JJ is a rookie to the league and hope's to make a big impact for the team not only on the scoreboard but defensively as well. This would be much appreciated as the T-Wolves were last in the league in goals against last year. Dennis Thiessen and Kenton Thiessen have both signed full season contracts and bring the veteran leadership that every team needs.
The Rumor Mill Keeps Turning
A spokesman for the T-Wolves has said that the team is in negotiations with forwards Ryan Peters and Tim Penner. Both have been signed to the substitution squad but the T-Wolves are trying to get them signed for the full season. It looks like they are in tough though as Ryan Peters is currently signed with the Predators from a local Steinbach league and Tim Penner is holding out for better contract. Both will be a stretch to sign but that hasn't deterred the T-Wolves. Landon Elhard has been speaking with both players to see if he can lure them over. If these two would join the team it would be a big boost on offence as well as in experience as both players have a ton of experience.
Defence Remains Intact
There has been no changes to the T-Wolves defence going into their second season. All four players from last year have resigned contracts. Allen Thiessen, Myron Thiessen, and Kenton Thiessen each signed one year extensions. Terms were not disclosed due to club policy. However it has been reported that UFA Wayne Gryde after his successful rookie campaign has signed a 4 year contract worth approximately 16,100 Dong per season. Many critics think that the T-Wolves may have overpaid for Gryde's services but Gryde said that other teams were offering him more but he felt a responsibility to the T-Wolves organization to help them be a better team this year. As well there are some sceptics that think the T-Wolves should have brought in some more defence due to the fact that they were last place in goals against average. Josh Thiessen dismissed this in an interview earlier today when he said, "the defence got better as the year went on. It wasn't all the defence fault because the forwards were also missing assignments." He also said, "It was the first year playing together and as the year went on we got much better and were leading going into many third periods. If we can play some better defence as a team in the third we should come out with a lot more wins this year." The team also needs to boost their scoring this year to help out the defence. Landon Elhard who led the team in goals last year with 13 said that he will definitely reach 15 goals this year as long as he can hit the open nets. As a whole the pack should be much better on defence this year and are looking forward to getting on the ice and proving the critics wrong.
Tim Thiessen
Tim Thiessen the goalie for the T-Wolves last year plans to make a fresh start this year. He has bought new equipment and his new look starts a new chapter in his goal tending career. He improved last season throughout the year as the T-Wolves came closer and closer to A win in the last half of the season, keeping them in the games. His goals against improved as the weeks went on due to the fact he was playing better and the team was starting to Gel. Tim however last year let in the odd softy but he plans to correct that with his grueling off season training. (playing AA and drinking cold tea)